Beginning in August 2018, establishments with liquor licenses in unincorporated areas of Cook County will be able to offer video gaming on automated gambling machines based on an ordinance amendment passed by the Cook County Board of Commissioners earlier this month. Video gaming refers to electronic video games that simulate games such as poker, line up and blackjack upon insertion of cash. The ordinance, sponsored by Cook County Commissioner Timothy Schneider and co-sponsored by…
The Civic Federation recently released its second report that examines the unincorporated areas in Cook County. In the report, the Civic Federation identified a number of issues surrounding unincorporated areas that residents, municipalities, local governments, businesses and other stakeholders identified during the interviews conducted by the Federation. In addition to the formal interviews conducted with various stakeholders, Civic Federation staff also contacted individual townships,…
The Civic Federation recently released a report that examines unincorporated areas in Cook County. This report builds on an earlier report released by the Civic Federation in 2014 by providing a comprehensive analysis of all unincorporated areas in Cook County as well as recommendations to assist the County in eliminating unincorporated areas. In the report, the Civic Federation presents findings on the cost of the County providing municipal-type services in unincorporated areas compared to…
This article covers the recent release of the Civic Federation’s comprehensive report on the unincorporated areas in Cook County, which encourages Cook County to develop and formally adopt a multi-year plan to eventually eliminate all of its unincorporated areas. Laurence Msall, President of the Civic Federation, remarks that having unincorporated areas without direct municipal services in a modern county is outdated, inefficient and expensive to the overall county. For additional coverage on…
The west portion of Cook County includes the following nine Townships: Cicero, Leyden, Lyons, Norwood Park, Oak Park, Proviso, River Forest, Riverside and Stickney. Six of these townships have unincorporated areas. The exceptions are Cicero, Oak Park and River Forest Townships, which are coterminous with a municipal government. The report does not include the research information on the Townships of Cicero, Oak Park and River Forest because…
(CHICAGO) A report released today by the Civic Federation provides a comprehensive examination of all unincorporated areas in Cook County. The full 221-page report, available here, builds extensively on a 2014 report and includes final recommendations on how the County can improve general management of unincorporated areas, work with local governments to improve future planning efforts and reduce the subsidy provided to unincorporated residents by all County taxpayers. Approximately 2.4%, or…
As part of the Civic Federation's report, Unincorporated Cook County: A Profile of Unincorporated Areas in Cook County and Recommendations to Facilitate Incorporation, profiles of the unincorporated areas in Cook County's North, West and South regions were compiled. Understanding more about the unique characteristics of these areas will help County and municipal officials, as well as unincorporated residents, develop plans to incorporate. Click on the links below for a…
This report provides a comprehensive examination of all unincorporated areas in Cook County. It builds extensively on a 2014 report by the Civic Federation and includes final recommendations on how the County can improve general management of unincorporated areas, work with local governments to improve future planning efforts and reduce the subsidy provided to unincorporated residents by all County taxpayers. Approximately 2.4%, or 126,034, of Cook County’s 5.2 million residents live…
The following are the five most read posts presented by the Civic Federation blog in 2015. These posts examine a number of closely followed local government issues, ranging from City and County taxes to Chicago pension debt. Where Do Your Property Taxes Go? April 7, 2015 This blog post outlines how property taxes are distributed by describing how property tax dollars were proposed to be spent in FY2015 by the three largest governments in northeastern Illinois: the City of Chicago,…
The Civic Federation’s recent report profiling six townships in Cook County with the largest unincorporated population examined issues related to annexing unincorporated areas. The report described the unincorporated areas and identified many of the barriers that municipalities might face if they were to annex the unincorporated areas adjacent to their borders. Based on interviews conducted with suburban municipal officials and other stakeholders, inadequate Cook County building code…
